At the center of the frozen continent stood the White Ice Palace, a castle of ice.
Even after hundreds, thousands of years had passed, and even after being swept up in the Great War that decided the fate of the world, this castle of the Demon Lord still remained unmelted. And today, it welcomed a young "princess."
"......"
"...Hah. So she really is their daughter after all."
A girl with white hair like the demon empress, and blue eyes like the ash-gray Hero.
She was the so-called [Princess of the Underworld], Millen Ruber Testarossa.
Wishing to become the [King] of hell just like her mother, she had just finished proving her worth before the strongest Demon Lord.
"......"
She did seem like the kind of child who'd grow up extraordinary from the start... but at this level, she's already long surpassed the old Demon Lords.
That tiny little princess who used to hide behind her father and peek out with only her head showing had grown this much before he knew it.
Guy Crimson, the strongest Demon Lord, let out an amused chuckle as he looked at the talented girl standing before him.
"Your swordsmanship still needs a little polishing, but your talent for [elemental spell] is no worse than Ria's... Not bad. You pass."
"...! Then..."
"That's right. Since you passed the test, I'll accept you as my official disciple."
"—!!"
With a silent cry, joy began to bloom across the girl's face.
She probably thought that, by always keeping her emotions hidden and maintaining her composure, she looked like her mother. But to someone like Guy, who had watched her since childhood, she only looked like a child trying to imitate an adult.
She's still terrible at acting. Well, being too gifted at everything has its own drawbacks, so this is much better.
That white-haired girl was already so exceptional that she had no need for any more talent.
Her gifts with sword and magic called to mind both the Hero who had once been his disciple and those ancient siblings who governed the color white.
The two talents the girl had displayed just now were not things a mere child could possess so easily.
Unlike her younger brother, it doesn't seem like she has a Hero's Egg. If anything, that makes me like her more. If her potential is awakened properly, she has enough talent to grow into a [Catastrophe] class genius.
Having seen through Millen's potential, Guy seriously considered that it might not be a bad idea to make her the ninth Demon Lord right now.
She was still only a young girl in her early teens, but with this talent, he could already see the possibility that she would reach the level of an Awakened Demon Lord within a few years.
...It seems she wants to follow Ria and become the new ruler of hell, but talent like hers is wasted on being satisfied with a place like that.
A rough gem far too precious to leave buried in hell.
A gem of martial and magical talent that could bloom without limit even in the middle world.
If she built up her level of skill at Guy's side, just as her father had, then in ten years... no, even in five, it would be entirely possible for her to achieve greatness.
So Guy asked her.
"Millen."
"...Yes?"
At Guy's call, Millen quietly tilted her head and answered.
Like Ria in her younger days, when she had been famed as an empress, Millen had inherited the pride characteristic of the Primordial Demons. But that arrogance only appeared toward those far beneath her.
When speaking normally with those on her level or above it, she was a demon who spoke as gently and obediently as her soft-hearted, innocent younger brother.
"Let me ask you this first. Have you no intention of changing your goal?"
"...My goal...?"
"Yes. That goal of yours to become the [King] of hell."
Nodding, Guy swept his gaze over the traces of Millen's magic that still lingered around the training ground before speaking again.
"Your talent is not so insignificant that you should be content with hell alone. If you wanted, you could seize a Demon Lord's seat right now without much trouble."
"......"
"What do you say? Before becoming the [King] of hell, become a Demon Lord first and build up your fame and experience. With strength like yours, there won't be any fools stupid enough to object."
And even if someone did object, he added, she could simply crush them by force.
It was a declaration full of the arrogance worthy of being called the strongest, and words perfectly befitting the demon Guy Crimson.
"......"
But after staring steadily at Guy and thinking it over, Millen slowly shook her head.
"I'm grateful for your offer, Godfather... but I have no intention of becoming a Demon Lord."
To Millen, the demon Guy Crimson was a [King] she respected just as much as her mother and her "aunts," and also a demon trustworthy enough that her father had chosen him as her godfather. But she had no desire to follow the path he walked.
"I want to walk my own path."
Her goal was to dye the present hell, once divided into seven at the beginning and now unified into ash-gray, in her own color once more.
That goal remained unshaken even now, with the strongest demon she would one day have to overcome standing right in front of her.
"...I see."
It was an ambition almost too grand for a child, but when he considered that she was the daughter of those two demons, Guy found that he could understand it. Soon, he smiled softly, as though looking at his own daughter.
"If your goal still burns that strongly, then I won't force the recommendation on you. Still, if you ever change your mind, tell me anytime. I'll always leave a Demon Lord's seat open for you."
"Yes, thank you. Godfather... no, Master."
"...Master, huh? Well... that's not bad either."
Watching the greeting of his disciple, who was like a niece and looked exactly like those siblings, Guy let out another quiet laugh. Then he thought of his own daughter, Mel, who was probably undergoing the same test in Tempest around now.
The white-and-crimson half-dragon who had become the second Irregular among the True Dragons after Milim Nava, Lumer Crimson.
...So that's why he was so confident when he said he'd entrust this child to me as my disciple instead of taking Mel as one.
How strong would children who would one day inherit their parents' colors and become new Primordials grow after taking in the colors of different Primordials?
That was where Guy's new interest now lay.
...Well now, this is going to get interesting again for the first time in a while.
By the next Walpurgis, just how much stronger would his daughter and her master have become?
The red demon felt the beat of his heart, which had started moving more often lately, and sank into swelling anticipation.
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